My father has bench warrants in CA, is it possible for him to get his record expunged without having to be there physically??

These are serious charges. He can't just pay and pretend nothing happened. The judge is likely going to want him present to explain why he failed to appear. Having a bail bondsman on call would be a good idea.

An "expungement" (we technically don't have expungements in California) is for after a conviction to try and clean up your record somewhat. What your dad needs is either to appear in CA or hire an attorney to appear on his behalf and get the warrants recalled. From there, it depends on what stage of the proceedings the case was at when the warrants were issued to determine his next move. If the case was open, it will either need to get dismissed, resolved or tried. There may be problems of proof where the DA cannot proceed or legal motions to get the case dismissed. It's difficult to tell without more information about the case. Bottom line? Time for a lawyer to help clean this up.

Your father will have to return to CA to settle these warrants, but there is an easy way to do this and a hard way. The hard what is to have your father turn himself into the police in CA and hope for the best; however, I would not advise this. If you hire an attorney in advance of your father returning to CA they can arrange for your father to turn himself into Court, argue bond immediately (meaning hopefully never go into custody), and possibly negotiate a plea offer that very day. Since the cases are so old the DA will, most likely, be willing to deal very low as most or all of the witnesses will be unavailable now.

It's possible to do the cases without him, but speaking directly with an attorney would be my advice before you get further.

You have some larger problems before you get to expungement. If he has bench warrants then that means he has open cases that he would likely have to appear on to deal with. Warrants do not go away and even if he is out of state years later he can find himself in custody and shipped to California. These charges are misdemeanor so if he retains counsel and can manage to come to California to clear the warrants his attorney can then begin to work on settling the cases, or seeking dismissals. Best thing to do is contact counsel and hire someone to clear the warrants to start. Once that happens a resolution of the cases can begin to be worked out. That all has to happen first before he can even think about clearing his record. We can clear all the warrants for him but it takes a first step to contact an attorney and hire someone to clear all of these warrants. Brian Michaels Southern California Criminal Defense Attorney www.socalcrimdefense.com 3109919179

Sounds like there are a lot of outstanding charges. California does not do expungements technically, but have a similar process called PC 1203.4 which is similar and often referred to as expungements. PC 1203.4 is a step that can be taken after a conviction, once probation is terminated, and if there are no pending charges. Your father needs to first have the warrants recalled and quashed, then the cases addressed. If what you listed is only 25% of the outstanding matters, there is certainly work to be done. If there are convictions, the penalty is not going to be just paying a fine. He needs to speak to an attorney in more detail to deal with these issues.

An attorney can appear on your dad's behalf to clear the bench warrants, fight for him and get the best outcome on his cases. Even though the cases are old, any sentencing on them would be new, so the idea of expungement wouldn't be able to take place for several years. The progress he's made over the past 6/7 years is definitely relevant and will be a strong selling point in getting a better outcome in his case. Best, Nicholas M. Loncar, Esq. t: 323.803.4352 | f: 323.617.3838 www.iDefendLosAngeles.com [email protected] Sunset Law Building | 1295 W Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA | 90027

My colleagues are correct. The issues are not simple and paying some fines will not cut it. Contact a few attorneys. Many of us on provide a free consultation. But do something quickly.

Your Dad needs to take care of the bench warrants first. An expungement is only for cleaning up convictions. In your father's situation it is too premature to consider an expungement. It appears that all of your father's convictions are misdemeanors. Given that, he should hire an attorney who can resolve these matters without him appearing in court in California. If all these charges are in Central Justice System the current judge who is sitting there is reasonable and an alternative to jail time may be able to be worked out.

Hire an attorney to clear the warrants and get your father back on track. Based on the passage of so many years the case may be able to get dismissed. An experienced attorney is necessary

You are asking about different things. He can get a misdemeanor conviction expunged. Whether or not he needs to be there depends on the judge and whether there are any probation violations. But going to court for an expungement would not be risking jail time. However, he can't get anything expunged until the bench warrants are lifted and the cases are resolved. He will need to appear in court to have warrants recalled, and deal with the cases. If he shows up for this, it is very possible that he could be taken into custody. Best thing to do would be to call an attorney, discuss the cases in detail, and create a plan of action after that.

Expunge t is not a possibility until he clears his warrants and whatever probation terms set out by the judge assuming he pleads or is found guilty. Typically he would have to appear. Get an attorney to arrange this and get him through this process. Andrew Roberts

He must clear the warrants and resolve the case. Then he can get the case dismissed per 1203.4. If it is a misdemeanor then an attorney can appear on his behalf. Feel free to contact me for more info or to help. Mike Norton 760-420-5537

I applaud your effort to help your pops, but virtually every California judge with whom I've had experience will require his physical appearance unless there's a great reason and the judge is okay with an appearance through counsel in advance. Once the warrant is "recalled and quashed" the law usually permits defendants to appear by counsel through most stages of a misdemeanor case, but getting the warrants recalled is almost certainly going to require your dad's physical appearance. It is unclear without knowing more what his chances of being remanded into custody are, but there may be a chance. Te facts are very important.